Interview with Author Michelle Garren Flye & Giveaway!
Where do you get your inspiration?
By Michelle Garren Flye
Ideas for books come in all shapes and sizes and not always in the same way. It’s a bolt of lightning sometimes. Other times it’s a slow growing sprout. Sometimes they come from good places. Other times, not so great.
The inspiration for Becoming Magic actually came from the news and my growing concern for my daughter. She’s pretty, talented and she wants to be an actress one day. If you’ve paid attention to the news from Hollywood, though, you know that’s one place you might not want your daughter to be.
Hence, Becoming Magic and my new kind of romance to show my support for the #metoo movement. I have vowed to write out all harmful tropes from my romance. My heroines will be strong and my heroes will be respectful. And this can still be fun and very sexy.
But other times my inspiration comes from the good things in my life. Dickens Magic, book six in Sleight of Hand, is my first Christmas book. It takes place in one of my favorite places on earth, New Bern’s historic Masonic Theater. I based it, very loosely, on my experience on the stage there when I had a minor part in A Christmas Carol last year. Though none of my cast mates will find themselves in Dickens Magic, they inspired me to write this book, and when I refer to “theater love” in it, I was thinking about them!
So, to be honest, I can’t say exactly where all my inspiration comes from. From the news and from life. From sad experiences and from happy. From the dark and from the light. And sometimes? Sometimes inspiration comes from out of the blue.
BLURB:
Carole Barnes once believed she would make her own way in Hollywood, but those days are long gone, leaving behind only a dark, slimy secret that Carole has never shared with anyone. Now she hides in the bright sunshine of the Crystal Coast of North Carolina. As far away as she can get from Hollywood. But what to do when Hollywood comes knocking in the form of a sexy movie star? Connor Wallace has everything going for him—looks, talent, a successful career—but what he really wants is to perform magic on stage. His love of magic leads him back to his mentor Walt Bryson. At first, he’s pleased when Walt suggests his assistant Carole produce a documentary of his transformation from movie star to magician. He’s worked with Carole before—but the ambitious girl who had a crush on him is gone now, leaving a beautiful, withdrawn woman. It’s the perfect arrangement. Carole knows she can make a success of the movie and Connor wants to work with her. But as they grow closer, Connor determines to find out her secret. Can love overcome the boundaries of fear? Or will Carole’s past return to plague them both?
Excerpt:
She reached for a handful of popcorn and her hand brushed his. When she turned her head and met the gaze of the same pair of clear blue eyes as those on the screen, her heart skipped a beat and she froze. For an eternity of a half second, neither of them moved, then he slowly turned his hand over and folded his fingers over hers. “Is this okay?”
“Yes.” She breathed the single word, then added, “And no.”
“No?” He raised his eyebrows.
“I really want some popcorn.”
“And I still really want to kiss you.” His eyes flickered down to her lips. Then he sighed and released her hand. “I guess one of us should get what they want, huh?”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Michelle Garren Flye is an award-winning romance author of eleven novels and counting. Her short stories have been published by the romance anthology Foreign Affairs, Opium.com, SmokelongQuarterly.com and Flashquake.com, among others. She has served on the editorial staffs of Horror Library, Butcher Shop Quartet and Tattered Souls. Michelle has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is the mother of three and lives in North Carolina.
Links:
Blog: BREATHE: http://michellegflye.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/michellegflye
Michelle Garren Flye will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click Here!
